I'm Just so Busy

My family and I went to Barnes & Noble on Sunday night. For the record, I love going to bookstores and looking at all of the books waiting to pour out their words. When I leave bookstores, I don’t want more books to read, but more time to read books. Regardless of what you’re doing right now, I’m sure you feel busy. It’s easy to find ourselves wishing to be in another place or doing something other than where we are in our lives with our work, where we live, or even in some relationships.
In Scripture we’re given encouragement to be content where God has placed us. When the Jews world was turned upside down and the unthinkable happened – Jerusalem was taken over and the temple was destroyed, Jeremiah, the prophet instructs the wandering people to work, have families, invest in the city where they are (Jer. 29:1-9). Our devotion to the Lord is not singled out to something we do on Sundays during one hour. All of our work, recreation, and family life is part of being a disciple.
Paul’s life was spent making disciples and planting churches. While that’s not the life that God has called anyone at GracePointe to (yet), Paul’s words to the Philippian church are very important to us no matter what vocation or season of life: I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (Phil 4:12-13).
You don’t have to be involved in sports to be impacted by Paul’s words. God’s hand is powerful enough to make me hit a homerun or run a four minute mile, but God’s desire isn’t that I’m a super athlete or even coordinated. God’s call in my life is to be satisfied in Him and in Him alone. The natural human tendency is to want what we don’t have or imagine that our lives would be better if we had someone else’s life. Scripture presents us with the divine reality that God places us in situations that aren’t how we would plan our lives or use our time. God directs our lives so that we experience contentment in Christ regardless of our situation.
I don’t have time that I would to dedicate to reading, but my prayer is that I depend on Christ during every minute of time I have.